Managing Garment Merchandising

Now days, major companies are adopting merchandising concepts, which comply with all procedures to execute and dispatch the shipment on time, considering quality, cost and time. Merchandisers are serious in the success of any garment retail business. They provide the right products at the right time, enabling a company to match with latest market trends and meet the market demand. In the merchandising concept, time management is a gig to manage one's time properly, so he can focus on value adding actions. Today's garment merchandisers have to move with frequent changes in demand and the developing technologies utilized in manufacturing and production. To find out customer requirements, they regularly visit retail outlets, and come up with latest updates from frontline staff. In order to keep an eye on developments in sourcing, site visits are made every week to mainland factories to meet suppliers and study production. In garment merchandising, there is no specific rule, so it's important to be able to think on one's feet. The main procedures of merchandisers are as followed:

Understanding Sample Order: Merchandiser has to understand the buyer's requirements after receiving specification in the sample order. In many cases, there are modifications pertaining to the specifications in the order to dispatch on time and the right quality. He has to talk with the in-house veterans on the execution problems of sample orders, as the right information is required in decision making. Managing order route card and production timetable: Merchandiser has to manage every single production schedule and order route card that helps to follow-up the execution in the planned way. It is expected to be acknowledged of the various descriptions like: design, no. of modules, no. of operators, how many processes, date of dispatch, quantity, output capacity, and deadlines in the schedules. The sub-ordinates are normally assigned to follow-up with execution of the plan. Merchandiser plans the activities depending on the essentials or non-essentials, and top priority are given to the most essential tasks. This is customary that the essential activities are handled personally or with the support of junior merchandisers/sub-ordinates.

In a "daily schedule", merchandiser has to carry-out and categorize which is the most significant and urgent task. The activity that has to be focused with full attention to sweep-off non-essential activities and have to be to be corrected by prioritizing to meet the deadlines. Using route card to reschedule activities: To get updated on the current status on the order, the route cards should be utilized. The latest status can be fed into the computers. In case, the buyer ask for the goods prior to the deadline, then merchandiser has to reorganize the schedules to accomplish tasks, output capacity, no. of pieces to be produced daily, substitute arrangements, time availability, supply time, scheduling critical ratio, etc. Submitting pre-production samples: The pre-production samples should be provided on time to the concerned buyers. Quality of the sample must be verified. If required, revised samples should be made available to the buyers. Merchandiser should adjust to the required changes demanded by the buyer. The execution of bulk orders should be made only after samples are approved by the buyer. In-process inspection denote between any tasks in order-execution. In case of non- conformation, it is better to focus on the concerns of quality. Merchandisers that works on complete orders have to check deviation to the production teams so that any amendments can be done to avoid the nonconformities. Solving shortage problem: The merchandiser should know about the dearth of any commodity such as fabric, yarn, etc... from the beginning. Actions should be taken immediately to arrange required materials, after discovering the shortage. It is expected that the merchandisers should verify quality of the goods prior to execution of the order. If the material is found unavailable, the superior should be informed about the concern. Communicating with associated people and buyer: It is essential to communicate with the buyers regarding the order. It is expected to give some time to the buyer to read the sent messages. Merchandiser should to go through the messages received from the buyer and reply on time. In many cases, merchandisers have to provide order status to the buyers. Also, merchandiser has to communicate with the people that are in-house, venders, contractors and job-workers. Only through the right communication can one meet deadline for the concerned orders. Conclusion: Apart from the above mention procedures, merchandiser has to assign subordinates to help him in the order execution, and direct the procedures. He has to revise his knowledge from time-to-time to know current market trends. To record preferences for all the planned activities, use daily or time log systems.

Merchandiser's other Responsibilities

Apart from acting as a mediator between buyer and the production unit, merchandiser also has the responsibility to advise and assist other departments right from sampling to final shipping.

Coordination regarding shipping

It is one of the responsibilities of merchandiser to follow the shipping. He has to give the shipping instructions clearly to the production, quality, documents and shipping departments. It is not only enough to give the instructions to them, but also it is the merchandisers duty to coordinate with these departments for smooth shipping and to follow them closely.

Taking responsibility for inspections

If we work with buying offices or buying agents or buyers liaison offices, there will be many inspections like pilot batch, initial, online, mid final and final. If we work with the buyers directly, the number of inspections will be limited. The buyer may like to see the inspection in the middle production or final inspection. Some times, the buyer may ask any third party (like SGS) to do the inspections. It is better for the merchandiser to take responsibility for these inspections too.

Following shipment
Finally the merchandiser has to make sure the vessel details, ETA, ETD, shipping lines, B/L instructions, documents, vessel connections, freight & other charges are in accordance with the buyers instructions and our suitability.

Helping documentation department

Though the documentation department takes care of all documents, it is preferable for the merchandiser to check the important things like the prices, quantity, description, Category, HS code, consignees & consignors addresses, payment terms, delivery terms, purchase order number, port discharge, etc.

Advising production and quality department about quality level

Each garment will have different acceptable quality level according to the buyers specification and tolerance level. Though the production and quality departments are taking responsibility of quality, it is the merchandiser and the marketing manager who decide whether the quality is up to the acceptable level or not. So the merchandiser should advise and instruct the production and quality departments about the quality and tolerance levels of garment.

Advising and assisting production

As the merchandiser is the person who knows better about buyers approvals, comments and instruction, for the better flawless production, he will have to advise and assist production. As he has to guarantee the quality to the buyer, though there is a separate production departments, the merchandiser should know about day to day affairs, status and problems of each stage of production.

Preparing purchase orders

Merchandiser has to prepare purchase orders. They should be advised to the purchase department. The description, quantity, quality standards, price or price target, delivery target and payment terms of the required raw materials, accessories and trims should be clearly mentioned in the purchase orders. The clear information will help everybody to understand the requirements clearly.

Preparing internal order sheets

The merchandising department has to prepare internal order sheets based on the buyers order sheets. From the merchandising department only, the other departments will get al the instructions and specifications. The merchandiser should be aware of the value of his job. So while preparing internal order sheets, he should prepare them by taking care of each and every detail. He may omit some information to other departments, like buyers address, export price, delivery date, etc. The other departments may not need these information.

Accessories and Trims

The merchandiser has to send the accessories and trims like buttons, zippers, labels, hang tags, polybags, inner boards, etc to buyer for approval. It is better to send in 2 or 3 types or qualities for getting approval. This will save a good time.